Bible Text: 2 Samuel 12 | Preacher: Pastor Steve | Series: David: Abiding in the Lord
Psalms 32:3-4 When I kept it all inside, my bones turned to powder, my words became daylong groans. The pressure never let up; all the juices of my life dried up.
Guilt is a warning light on your car that says check engine!
2 Samuel 12:1-4 So the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to tell David this story: There were two men in a certain town. One was rich, and one was poor. The rich man owned a great many sheep and cattle. The poor man owned nothing but one little lamb he had bought. He raised that little lamb, and it grew up with his children. It ate from the man’s own plate and drank from his cup. He cuddled it in his arms like a baby daughter. One day a guest arrived at the home of the rich man. But instead of killing an animal from his own flock or herd, he took the poor man’s lamb and killed it and prepared it for his guest.
The feelings of injustice rose up in David and he pronounced a severe judgment:
2 Samuel 12:5-6 David was furious. As surely as the Lord lives, he vowed, any man who would do such a thing deserves to die! He must repay four lambs to the poor man for the one he stole and for having no pity.
2 Samuel 12:7-9 Then Nathan said to David, You are that man! The Lord, the God of Israel, says: I anointed you king of Israel and saved you from the power of Saul. I gave you your master’s house and his wives and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you much, much more. Why, then, have you despised the word of the Lord and done this horrible deed? For you have murdered Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites and stolen his wife.
God forgave David because of his repentant and remorseful heart. But David would still suffer the consequences of his SINS!
Galatians 6:7-9 A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life…
There is NO UNLESS statement, no exemption, not even with repentant hearts, we reap what we sow
2 Samuel 12:10-14 From this time on, your family will live by the sword because you have despised me by taking Uriah’s wife to be your own. This is what the Lord says: Because of what you have done, I will cause your own household to rebel against you. I will give your wives to another man before your very eyes, and he will go to bed with them in public view.
You did it secretly, but I will make this happen to you openly in the sight of all Israel. Then David confessed to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. Nathan replied, Yes, but the Lord has forgiven you, and you won’t die for this sin. Nevertheless, because you have shown utter contempt for the Lord by doing this, your child will die.
CONSTRAINTS are important because they help prevent us from self-destruction
The baby, conceived by David and Bathsheba, would die and they would suffer terrible grief and emotional pain
Amnon would rape his sister Tamar
Absalom murdered Amnon for the rape of their sister
Absalom would rebel against his father, stirred up political rebellion against his dad’s leadership
David would have to escape Jerusalem and have to run for his life, again
Absalom attacked his father David in battle attempting to murder him and his followers
Absalom was killed by Joab while attempting to murder his father
Solomon, David’s son, would become the King of Israel and follow in his father’s footsteps committing sin and living in the same disobedience as his father
Romans 15:4-5 For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope
David denied the reality of his sin and he deceived himself into believing that his sin did not matter, he was the King!
Sin is real and personal!
Sin is deceptive!
Sin is ugly!
Sin is deadly!
Ephesians 2:1-10 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world…But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)…
Our Goal is to be like Jesus!
Philippians 3:12-14 …But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
John 14:16-19 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth… No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you.
John 16:8 And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment.
The Holy Spirit comes into our lives and removes the blind spots so we can be transformed into the 
person the Lord intends us to be!
The Lord Liberates Us and We are a New Creation!
2 Corinthians 5:17 …therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Every time David stopped and admitted his sin, and genuinely repented, God forgave and restored him into right relationship with Himself.